Ben Folds
is a genius; at least that is what openers Duncan Sheik and the
legions of loyal fans that packed the Barrymore would like us
to believe. While Folds’ status as pop rock god was certainly
not proven, there is no denying the spell he is able to hold over
a crowd.

Opening the
show with “Don’t Change Your Plans” off of 1999’s
Ben Folds Five release The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold
Messner, Folds relied a surprisingly large amount on older
Ben Folds Five material to fill the set list. But no one in the
sold out crowd seemed to care about the Ben Folds Five nostalgia
(things heard outside before the show “Dude, Ben Folds is
good, but Ben Folds Five was way better.” “Oh no doubt
about that one man”). More than two years removed now from
the infamous former band, Ben continues to mature as a solo act
and has nearly mastered the art of commanding a stage from behind
a baby grand piano.

Folds has
built his career by differentiating himself from and mocking the
rock mainstream, dating back as far as “Underground”
from the Ben Folds Five 1995 debut all the way to last years hit
“Rockin’ The Suburbs” off of his solo debut
of the same name, and he managed to avoid the typical rock show
crowd pleasing clichés. Instead he managed to make an actual
connection with the crowd, sometimes playing as jukebox to the
audience, stopping mid-sentence during inter-song banter to break
into a request, and even taking an extended break between songs
to sign several autographs for a very verbal, very young fan in
the front row.

In between
the request playing Ben found time to squeeze in a sizable chunk
of songs from every Ben Folds Five album, but hardly dented his
work as a solo artist. While the deep catalogue of Folds’
work can be described as inconsistent at best, his ability to
please a live crowd is second to none, and his talent for doing
so seems to be growing with each successive tour. No one was even
offended when Ben proudly proclaimed he would be riding home in
a stretched limo with five beautiful women, cuz hey, that’s
just how Quit Riot did it.08-Dec-2002
9:40 PM